DayZ: A simple way to install Lingor Island

The first thing to say is that this is not as comprehensive as my article about the installation of the main DayZ mod. This is just documenting one simple method of installing the Lingor Island variant without much hassle.

DayZ - Graphics comparison: ArmA 2 Free & ArmA 2 (full)

A lot of people ask me about the difference in graphics between using ArmA 2 Free and ArmA 2 (full) and it's hard to persuade people that there really isn't much difference. So I've taken some screenshots of the different versions in order to show the difference.

Now before I start, I should show you what my graphics settings are. I keep mine fairly low in order to keep a good framerate even on a dodgy server in the most heavily-populated, dense urban environments.

Now on to the screenshots. Note that I went out of my way to find the most stark examples that I could. For the most part, the differences aren't that marked. DayZ uses Operation Arrowhead for its game engine and most of its graphics, models and textures. ArmA 2 is mostly used for the level map (Chernarus) and a few models and textures. You can click each screenshot to see it at full size.

ArmA 2 (full)

ArmA 2 Free

Building textures look the same, roads look slightly better, wrecked (decorative) vehicles have better textures.

ArmA 2 (full)

ArmA 2 Free

Inside a red brick building. Wall textures slightly improved, debris texture much better, some (but not all) furniture has slightly better textures and the floor is a little nicer.

ArmA 2 (full)

ArmA 2 Free

Another interior from a red brick building. Wallpaper and door textures are much better, furniture and ceiling a bit better, outdoors largely unchanged.

ArmA 2 (full)

ArmA 2 Free

Inside a log cabin. Floor debris much better, furniture and fittings better, pictures on the wall oddly unchanged.

ArmA 2 (full)

ArmA 2 Free

Vegetation and barrier unaltered, road slightly better.

So there you have it. That's the difference between ArmA 2 Free and full. Most of the time you're going to be running through trees and undergrowth and won't see a bit of difference. The most obvious variance comes with the interiors of certain buildings and you're probably not going to be hanging around long enough to be admiring the décor.

The Addons folder from ArmA 2 Free is 1.54GB and the same folder from ArmA 2 (full) is 8.21GB. So that's six and a half gigabytes of extra disk space and fifteen pounds/dollars/euros of extra expense. Is it worth it?

DayZ - How to fix a helicopter, the easy way

If you've been playing DayZ for while now, you're probably keen to get your hands on a helicopter. It seems like a pretty daunting task as there's a huge number of parts you need. You need several panes of windscreen glass, scrap metal, a rotor assembly and about thirty(!) jerry cans of fuel. So when you find a helicopter, how on earth can you get all that stuff to the chopper before some toolboy pops up and shoots you in the head?

It was like that when I got here. Honest.

The first problem you have is actually finding a helicopter. It seems that some servers don't spawn vehicles, no matter what, due to some kind of bug. But if you can get on a server where vehicles do spawn, you can possibly find them in some of the locations listed on the wiki. Vehicles don't necessarily spawn at all those locations all the time, but you've maybe got a better chance of finding them there than just wandering around hoping to bump into one.

http://dayzwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Vehicles_and_Aircraft

There are two helicopter types that can be found and only one of them is fixable. Check the rotor blades. The grey helicopter in the picture above has bent rotors and can never be fixed. You need the green kind with intact rotor blades.




I found this video, made by a Cockney* zombie that explains the easy way of fixing a helicopter. You can actually fix a chopper with only a few parts that can all fit in a single backpack. This method won't restore a helicopter to full showroom condition, but it will get it patched up enough for you to fly it out of there to a safer location where you can then take your time completing it.

* Zombie only sounds Cockney if you're from America or have a serious head injury

My Day Z Story

Today's post was written by Lex, a long-time online game partner of mine and a jolly good chum too. And let me tell you, you do not want to be in his gunsights...

I hear gunshots.  I think to myself “fuck”.  I’m in a terrible place and am horribly exposed.  The shots come closer and closer and then I see him, a lone gunman being chased by a horde of zombies.  All he can do is fire wildly into them hoping to take as many of them down as he can.  As I’m looking at him through my sniper rifles’ scope I can see that he’s bleeding massively.  This brave Survivor sees me and turns to run for his life.  I pull the trigger.

DayZ single player / practice / training / (not really) cheating - DaiZy

Once upon a time there was a single player mod file for DayZ written by a chap named Kronzky. It was pretty good and added a whole new dimension to playing DayZ. Sadly, for various reasons Kronzky and Rocket (the DayZ developer) fell out and they both decided that the file should be discontinued.

There are videos out there on YouTube that explain how to get single player working with DayZ. Most of them are patched-up versions of the original Kronzky single player file (which only worked up to DayZ version 1.7.2.5). So most of those videos are concerned with downgrading your version of DayZ and will mess up your online DayZ folder. They also lack AI units, helicopter crashes and all kinds of stuff.

DaiZy works with any version of DayZ, but you're advised to use the most recent one. We also test against future versions of DayZ before they're released to make sure this keeps working.

DaiZy (yes, it's a stupid name) has been written from scratch and is completely different from those patched-up versions. It is designed to be a simulation of online play and includes vehicle spawns, helicopter crash sites and even has AI bandit units.

This is not the only version of DaiZy. We have a forum where we have many other versions with different features (better AI handling, bandit groups, extra weapons, base-building, built-in cheats, etc) and supporting different maps (Namalsk, Lingor, Taviana, etc). The version I'm detailing here is the default Chernarus one
http://kodabar-dayz-daizy-single-player-forum.1084782.n5.nabble.com/

This article was last updated on the 26th of September 2013

Changelog:
September 26th Updated for DayZ 1.8
July 22nd Added launcher utility information. Change Support Call installation to use modfolders
June 12th Complete rewrite of article
February 25th Updated information on Support Call
February 7th Changed the CBA installation process due to the updated version and took account of DayZ 1.7.5.1
January 21st Added a video and rewrote guide for new install location
January 3rd Added bit about DayZ base version
December 27th Added Loki's Lost Key installation instructions and a video
December 3rd Completely rewrote page to include changes to DaiZy

October 6th Added manual installation instructions, updated article for 043
September 29th added section on Lingor Island shortcut, removed section on Depositfiles
September 28th Completely rewrote the whole article
September 16th Added Chernarus single player file with dogs
September 20th Added DaiZy 0.38b links, Desposit Files guide and mirrors

DayZ - how to stay alive for more than five minutes

This is the last of the DayZ articles (for now). Regular blog posts resume next week. Today we're going to look at tips and strategies for staying alive.

Once you've read this article, there's also:

How to install DayZ (with ArmA 2 Free, Operation Arrowhead or Combined Ops)

DayZ - How to get on a server

How to play

DayZ offline single player / practice / training / (not really) cheating

This is displayed on the homepage of the DayZ mod. It's not kidding either. It was running a bit higher until the recent influx of new players. And people like me who've survived for much longer periods through out that average quite a bit. You really are going to die soon. So what can you do to improve your chances? Read on after the jump...

DayZ - How to play

Okay, so you've got the mod installed, you've managed to connect to a server. So just how do you play DayZ?

DayZ is a mod for ArmA 2 which is a complex military simulator with a horrible control system because it's trying to cater to every eventuality. There is a PDF manual in the Operation Arrowhead folder, but that'll only take you so far. Read on to find out a bit more.

Once you've read this article, there's also:

How to install DayZ (with ArmA 2 Free, Operation Arrowhead or Combined Ops)

DayZ - How to get on a server

DayZ - how to stay alive for more than five minutes

DayZ offline single player / practice / training / (not really) cheating

DayZ - How to get on a server

DayZ has gone from unknown to massively popular in a very short time and there aren't many servers, so it can be quite tricky to get on one and it's hard to know exactly what to do to ensure success.

Once you've read this article, there's also:

How to install DayZ (with ArmA 2 Free, Operation Arrowhead or Combined Ops)

How to play

How to stay alive for more than five minutes

DayZ offline single player / practice / training / (not really) cheating

The developers of DayZ have to approve all new servers and they've been inundated with offers recently, but have still only approved a few. The servers all communicate with a central database which means that your inventory and location remain consistent across servers - switch to another and you'll have the same kit and be in the same place. The lack of servers can mean it takes a long time to find one that you can actually join, so be patient - it is worth it.

It may seem a little odd to have all the game servers need approval but this is in order to prevent abuse. There's already been one server where the admins hacked in weapons that aren't supposed to be in DayZ and there was a case of another where players were being kicked just for killing the admin or any of his friends. So a tight rein is being kept on all servers to make sure they're fair and consistent for all. Servers are required to have SQL installed as, in the future, they will be running their own localised databases.

So how do you get on a server? More after the jump...

How to install DayZ (with ArmA 2 Free, Operation Arrowhead or Combined Ops)

Updated for 1.8.0.3 Article last updated 30th April 2014

30th April: Changes to ArmA 2 Free information and DayZ standalone
21st February: DayZ now available on Steam
16th February: Updated everything for 1.7.5.1
27th December: General article tidy-up
30th November: Steam sale over
23rd November: Updated article for 1.7.4.4
15th September: Updated article for 1.7.2.6 and added note about beta patch mirrors
7th September: Added holiday notice

If the comments go above 200, then things get a little messy, so I regularly remove older comments. I won't delete any with outstanding questions and I try to preserve any that I think are helpful to other players. I'm sorry if I remove your comment, but I only do so to make this more manageable.

Okay so you want to play DayZ. Good for you. But it's not easy to get set up.

Once you've read this article, there's also:

How to get on a server

How to play

How to stay alive for more than five minutes

DayZ offline single player / practice / training / (not really) cheating

DayZ - Our story

DayZ is not an easy game. That little image below is from its homepage. Despite being a sandbox game set on a very large map, your average life expectancy is 29 minutes. Some players survive for days, so that 29 minutes is a bit on the generous side when it comes to new players.

Once you've read this article, there's also:

How to install DayZ (with ArmA 2 Free, Operation Arrowhead or Combined Ops)

DayZ - How to get on a server

How to play

How to stay alive for more than five minutes

The first thing to point out is that it's not a standalone game at all - it's a mod. You need to have ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead and another ArmA 2 game in order to get it. This is why ArmA 2 has suddenly shot to the top of the Steam charts despite being three years old. I'll post an article on how to get it and install it tomorrow.

Free Game Friday: Project Zomboid and Zombie Typocalypse

Project Zomboid isn't entirely free, but there's a free version that lets you do pretty much everything that the full game does, or will when it's finished. I'm not explaining that terribly well. There's a basic free version of PZ but you can also pay a couple of quid for a slightly more updated version which will also get you the full version when it's done.

Okay, so it's a zombie survival game and there have been quite a lot of those recently. But Project Zomboid differs in that you're not going to win. The game starts by telling you that you've already died and now you're going to re-enact the moments leading up to your demise.

You begin in a house with a wife who's a bit hurty. You're going to have to do what you can to make her more comfortable and scavenge supplies to keep you alive. You'll have to combine items to create what you need. Get hold of a hammer and nails and you can barricade your home with wooden planks. Some bottles, rags and a lighter and you've got yourself an armful of Molotov cocktails (that are as much a danger to you as to the walking dead).

Lots of factors affect your survival and you'll need to be careful to make sure you get enough rest, keep yourself healthy and even treat yourself for depression.

http://projectzomboid.com/

Zombie Typocalypse is a stupid little browser game that I came across when looking for ways of getting Typing of the Dead (Sega's surprising House of the Dead typing tutor) to work under Windows 7. It's a very simple game where zombies shamble down a hallway towards you and you can stop them by bulleting them to death. Rather than point and click, your gun skills rely on your typing. Type the word over a zombie's head and you'll let fly with the lead. Quicker and more powerful weapons and ammunition can be bought with the money you earn for slotting zeds which does seem a little like a vicious circle, but it's a fun game for ten minutes on a Friday.

http://www.addictinggames.com/funny-games/zombietypocalypse.jsp

Free Game Friday: Stunt Rally and Tricky Truck

I don't deliberately theme these game articles, but it seems to happen anyway.

Stunt Rally might not have the most original name, concept, execution or gameplay, but that isn't a bad thing. You drive a car jolly fast through a landscape and try not to screw up too much. It comes with an impressive 79 tracks spread over 11 different regions and it's even possible to play multiplayer.

Although the tracks are very much made for rallying, there's quite a variety and some of the loops and bridges and things are simply excellent fun. There's even a track editor if you feel a bit creative and the game is updated quite often.

Go here to get it (it's about 200MB):
http://code.google.com/p/vdrift-ogre/




Our other game today isn't quite as free. Tricky Truck does have a free version, but you need to cough up approximately eight quid for the full thing. You're actually best off playing the free version initially to see if it's your kind of thing. It's a challenging physics-based truck driving simulation.

The game is satisfyingly hard. The first couple of levels will seem a bit finicky and unnecessary, but you'll soon be trying some very challenging mountain tracks. Completing a level is... well, tricky and you'll feel a real sense of accomplishment in doing so. Failing may be frustrating, but it's one of those games where messing up is definitely your fault; you haven't been cheated, the game has not tricked you, you just turned that corner way too fast.





There's also a lot of enjoyment in taking a stupid risk and pulling it off or smashing and caroming your way around a track in a manner that you know you're not supposed to be able to. The first time I managed a track in a top fifty time, I was ridiculously pleased with myself. Playing on hard mode restricts you to views from within the cab which just adds to the fun sometimes. The best time I've scored on the first shorcuts track (24th place) was on hard. Hah!

Hang on a minute, lads. I've got a great idea

The free version limits you to one truck and only about ten tracks, but surprisingly does include features like the level editor. The full version gives you a lot more vehicle choice, many new tracks and a heck of a lot of other little fun bits and pieces that you can see some of in the video.

Grab it here (about 20MB):
http://www.gravitysensation.com/trickytruck/

Free Game Friday: Unusual game control systems

This week is a little different in that I've not been playing free games, but I've been controlling them with unusual methods (which are all free). None of this keyboard and mouse stuff for me.


FaceTrackNoIR is a face detection uh... thing. It detects your face in order to follow your head movements and it transmits this data to the game. You can lay out £150 for a TrackIR device or you can use a webcam and FaceTrackNoIR.

Who is that handsome devil?

It actually works surprisingly well for something that's a bit cobbled-together. It uses the free non-commercial faceAPI from Seeing Machines to monitor the position of your face and it does a good job even if you have a beard and a busy background.

Although I initially used it for a flight sim, it worked equally well in driving games and, in the video above, you can see it being used for a first person shooter. Quite impressive.

There are obvious limitations like not being able to look directly behind you or too far off to the side, but seeing as you don't have a monitor over there, it's not going to be a problem. I haven't tried it with a game that supports multiple monitors yet, but I think that could be quite interesting.

Try it for yourself here:

http://facetracknoir.sourceforge.net/home/default.htm

There's a list of games that support it here:

http://facetracknoir.sourceforge.net/compatibility/games.htm

GlovePIE has been around for a while and basically allows you to control anything with anything. Originally designed to allow the use of those awful 'virtual reality' gloves, it's gone a bit further than that.

I decided to see if I could use my Nintendo Wii controllers with a flight sim and it was a breeze. The only other thing I needed was a Bluetooth adapter for my PC, but they can be picked up for pennies from ebay or Amazon (I had some spare Amazon credit). Here's a guy controlling Google Earth with a Wiimote:

In my case, it wasn't a total success. The Wiimote worked perfectly, but it wasn't actually any better than just using a joystick. I did try it with a driving game and that was a lot better although my arms did get a bit tired of holding it in the air all the time. But then I cam across this video and realised that I could do more with it.

Voice commands, eh? Well I've got several driving games where it's jolly difficult for me to perform certain functions because my hands are busy. He's playing rFactor 2 and I play the similar Race 07. I have difficulty arranging my pitstops because I've got two hands working the keyboard already, so when do I have time to navigate the menu to arrange my pitstop?

Voice command worked brilliantly. I play with headphones on, so there was no problem isolating the voice commands from the game noise. It uses the speech recognition engine built into Windows 7

I know there's a lot more that can be done with GlovePIE and writing scripts for it isn't terribly hard.

Get it here:

http://glovepie.org/glovepie.php

What worked especially well was combining the two. I played Race 07 using FaceTrackNoIR to track my head and GlovePIE to handle voice commands and that just let me get on with the driving. Entering a corner, I can look to the apex as I turn the car towards it, whilst telling my pit crew that I want different tyres on my next stop. Neither were particularly hard to set up (although I was using games with which I knew they already worked). Have a go yourselves and if there's any other unusual control method out there, let me know.

Game Friday: Botanicula

Yeah so it's normally about free games, but today it isn't. Because I'm chuffed silly that Botanicula has been released. It's the new game from Amanita Design, otherwise known as Jakub Dvorský, the author of Machinarium and the Samorost games. And not only has it just been released, but it's the core of a new Humble Bundle. So you can trot along and pick up the brand new Botanicula, the frigging excellent Machinarium and Samorost 2 by paying as much or as little as you like. And if you pay more than the average (currently $8.68), you'll get Kooky and Windosill thrown in too.

So what's Machinarium, Botanicula and uh, Jakub what? Well that just means we're not friends any more. Machinarium is a beautiful puzzle game in the style of a point and click adventure, but oh... the artwork is charming and unique and ooh, the puzzles are tricky, but not impossible. You'll never feel stupid trying to solve a puzzle in Machinarium. And yet, somewhat ironically, you will do by the time I've finished insulting you for not playing one of the best games ever. And if you've played the original Samorost games, then I'll give you special bonus points and induct you into my secret club for super-elite top humans. My mate Zane's played them and... well - you'd probably at least want to think of yourself as being as good as him in terms of homo sapiens - that's all I'm saying. He dresses like Adam Ant for goodness sakes.




Look! It's Machinarium. It's beautiful and maybe it's just a little too good for the likes of you, eh?

Isn't that nice? It's pretty, it's clever and it's age and language neutral. I played it with my wife. My wife! A computer game that wasn't Mario Bros with my wife! And we both had just as much fun. And she contributed almost as much as I did to the solution. Obviously she wasn't as good at it though. You can ask her if you don't believe me. But don't ask her because she tends to lie.

Just like Machinarium, Botanicula features lovely and unique graphics and features a range of point and click puzzles. There's no text in it at all, so you can play with foreigners or children. The developers are decent people and don't use any DRM and they even release versions for Mac and Linux too. And the music is bloody charming too. Gah, haven't I said enough to convince you yet?

Oh look, it's the moon. Hasn't that got a quirky hand-made sensibility to it as well a a hint of an Eastern European aesthetic? And check it out, there's a tiny dude in a space-ship. Go and buy this game. Pay whatever you like for it.

Wow, it's a... a... well, I'm not quite sure what it is actually. Looks like an ovum perhaps. Whatever it is, it's frigging charming. Buy this game now.

Hmm, they're brown and pendulous. Nope, no idea what they could be. Just enjoy it. It'll make you laugh, make you cry, it'll change your life. Buy it now.

Woo, some plants and a crab and everything. How delightful. Buy it!

There's a video below of actual gameplay. Don't watch it. The joy of discovery in Botanicula is just frigging awesome so don't go spoiling it by watching a video or reading a proper review. Buy!





Go here to visit the author's site and see his other cool stuff too.
http://amanita-design.net/

Go here to pay as little or as much as you'd like and get two other fab games too as well as the chance to pick up one other fab game and one that's well... all-right-ish. But some chairty or something gets some money, so that's probably a good thing.
http://www.humblebundle.com/

PS Zane is a very dear friend whom I respect greatly. It's only his chums who get to call him names.

Get your idea made into a game (by someone else)

You've no doubt noticed a whole raft of indie games bundles recently and you've possibly even noticed a fair number of 48 hour games programming challenges. Now a group I previously haven't heard of are coming together to create five games in 48 hours and you'll be able to pay whatever you like to receive all of them. Better still, you can contribute your own ideas and they will incorporate them into the games (provided your ideas don't suck).

The programming challenge takes place over the weekend of the 14th and 15th of April (the same as the Chinese Grand Prix), but you can submit your ideas any time up until them. Throughout the weekend, there will be updates, videos, journals and stuff so you can see the whole creative process take place.

Why not head on over to their website to submit your idea about a spaceship that can blow up planets but is crewed by adorable kittens?

http://indiebuskers.net/

Free game Friday: Age of Empires Online & Alter Ego

It's been a while since we last saw an Age of Empires game. The developer, Ensemble Studios, suffered from Microsoft disease: Microsoft spotted an independent company with a product that they wish they could have made, bought them, stuck the Microsoft brand all over everything and then inexplicably shut them down when they got over their initial excitement. And that very much looked like the end for the Age of Empires series.



But despite everything a new AoE (as all the cool kids are calling it) has popped out. And this time it's online and free.

AoE remains an RTS (Real Time Strategy) game. It's always had quite a strong single player story mode and AoE Online retains that approach. You've got a bunch of missions to complete and they will all involve you constructing buildings, gathering resources and training new personnel. Oh and you'll need to kill stuff too, obviously. So far, so familiar. At the start of the game you're invited to choose a race and straight away you hit the pay-wall; one of the races can't be played unless you pay up. You can play the entire game without paying a penny, but players who invest are able to gain access to advisor units and other advantages and you've got to wonder how that would work in a player versus player match, though I haven't tried PvP yet.

The graphics are jolly and cute and really add to the feel of the game. The missions are a bit samey and repetitive. You'll chug through the starter missions waiting for the main game to get going and it never really does. The game will constantly bug you to pay for stuff (one of the very first missions gives you a reward that you can't use unless you pay) and paying is ridiculously expensive: £3.25 for each thing (the price for races will be double that after a promotional period) even when they're useless shit like bushes to decorate your home screen. And you're forced to use that fucking awful Games for Windows crap too. It's a good game, but when it used to be a great one, you have to wonder what went wrong. Yep, this is what happens when you catch Microsoft disease.

Get it free on Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/105430/

A lot of games like to use the 8-bit aesthetic at the moment, but Alter Ego isn't messing around. Available for the PC, NES, MSX and ZX Spectrum, this really is a proper 8-bit game and no mistake. Essentially the free forerunner to the recently released 8-Bit Night, Alter Ego is a simple platform game with an extra game mechanic.



You jump around on the platforms as usual, but you have a shadow self... an alter ego, if you will... whom you don't control directly but with whom you can swap places at any time, thus allowing you access to otherwise unreachable parts of the screen. It reminds me a fair bit of VVVVVV and is just as satisfying to play.

Go here to get it for PC, NES, MSX or indeed the ZX Spectrum:
http://www.retrosouls.net/?page_id=614